


New Grimm in Town

by Dracophile



Series: Grimm-The Casebook of Sloane Larson [1]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Eventual Nick/OC, F/M, Giants, OC focus, Original Character(s), but not yet, large ongoing series, slowest of burns, start here, then really diverge in future chapters, will start canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 22:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15129224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracophile/pseuds/Dracophile
Summary: Start here for Sloane Larson series!What if another Grimm came to Portland earlier in the series? Sloane Larson has been raised as a Grimm since childhood, and come to Portland on a hunt for a highly dangerous wesen, and to find Nick Burkhardt. She's a trained hunter, she's harsh, and she does not approve of Nick's methods or his wesen friends. Nick doesn't approve of her either. Can they get along long enough to take out the dangerous wesen killing campers? Or will they kill each other first?





	New Grimm in Town

**_"Good day, comrade! So thou art sitting there overlooking the wide-spread world! I am just on my way thither, and want to try my luck. Hast thou any inclination to go with me?"_ **

\----------------------

**The New Grimm in Town**

**\-----------------------**

“I cannot believe you convinced me to do this,” Antonia sighed loudly, picking at her jeans. “You know I’m not the outdoorsy type…And this isn’t exactly how I planned the last weekend of spring break.”

“Oh, but little Toni,” Macie said with a smirk, “Outdoorsy no, but I thought you were the Grant type. “ She wiggled her eyebrows over at one handsome young man dressed in flannel helping to pitch a tent.

“Nnng, yes, but why does he have to be the outdoorsy type? Also, in case you haven’t noticed, there are four girls here and three guys.”

“Psh, Candace isn’t going to do anything. Her _girlfriend_ is visiting family in California.”

She perked up a little. “Oh…? Well then, I like my odds a little better.”

“Great, then you can go help him gather firewood here in a second for dinner.”

“I-what? But we have firewood; we got it at the store!”

“We need kindling and other little bits, and I volunteered you to help, because you love walking around the woods and safety in numbers. You can thank me later.”

“Macie! I don’t even know what to talk to him about!” she hissed, her face heating up in embarrassment.

“Hey, Antonia! You ready to go?” Grant called. “We need to get the firewood before it’s dark.”

“Well you better think of something,” she grinned, hauling the blushing girl to her feet. “She’s coming!” Giving her a shove, Macie just smiled when Antonia looked back at her like she wanted to kill her.

Grant just smiled as she walked up to him. “Hey. Follow me.”

“Right…” Antonia headed into the trees after him and started picking up sticks for kindling. “Um, so…you’re a big camper?”

“Yeah, used to always camp with my dad when I was a kid. You?”

“Oh yeah, totally. Love the outdoors. Can’t get enough fresh air and trees and…sky.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“…No,” she grimaced, unable to keep up the charade. “The woods are creepy, sorry. I’ve seen horror movies like this too much. I like having central air and ordering pizza and watching trashy TV and Netflix when I don’t have classes.”

Grant laughed, picking up a thicker tree branch. “Well, nothing wrong with that. I like Storage Wars myself.”

“Really?” she asked, perking up. “Um, what about-” she paused when she heard something, turning to look. “Did…did you hear something?”

Grant smiled. “It’s not a horror movie, don’t worry. Probably just a small animal. A raccoon. Nothing to be scared of.”

“Raccoons can be bad…and yeah, that doesn’t sound like something someone would say in a horror movie…”

He laughed again. “Don’t worry, really. It’s nice to talk to you though, I always see you in science and want to chat but you’re always busy.”

Antonia blushed a little but smiled. “You can always talk to me…” She heard another sound and flinched, looking back to the darkening woods. She thought she saw a man walking between the trees but the figure was gone before she could be sure. Swallowing, she decided she wanted to get back to camp sooner rather than spend too long away. Grant kept chatting as they gathered the firewood, making it more tolerable, and then they headed back.

“Okay, we have fire wood!” Grant yelled triumphantly, raising large stick above his head.

“Great, we can start…cooking…” one boy said, straightening slowly. “Hey, who are you?”

Antonia blinked at the question before turning her head, gasping when she saw a man standing just a couple of feet behind them. He was gangly, covered in course dirty hair that obscured his eyes and a thick beard over his face. His clothes were tattered and an acrid stench seemed to cling to him. It was the same smell she remembered as when a possum died under their porch: rotting meat. “Oh my god!” she gasped, nearly tripping over her feet as she tried to get away.

Grant was backing up as well, not having seen him come up behind them despite his size. He swallowed but tried to look friendly. “Hey, uh…buddy, you scared us. Uh…do you need help? Are you lost, man?”

A low rumble came from the scraggly man before he lunged for Grant, faster than they expected, pinning him to the ground. Everyone yelled in shock, Antonia dropping the firewood. Opening his mouth wider than a normal man should be able to, he brought it down and sank his sharpened teeth into his shoulder. Grant screamed and so did everyone else, scrambling to their feet. “Get him off me!”

“Charlie, get the flare gun!” someone yelled. “Do something!”

Antonia was frozen for a moment before she quickly grabbed a thick branch they’d taken for firewood and brought down as hard as she could on the man’s head, snapping it in half. He didn’t seem to feel it but he brought his head up, his beard and lips dripping with blood and Grant screaming in pain still. She was shaking as he stood, his eyes digging into her. Then he began to grow taller before her eyes, his body transforming, clothes filling out and ripping, his shadow in the setting sun enveloping them all in darkness as everyone began screaming.

In the morning there was a couple in a green sedan driving along the curving roads of the Portland forests.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” the man in the passenger seat asked.

“I told you, this is the only road that goes through the forest for miles. It’s long and windy, but it’s the nicest route to Bethany.”

“It’s not too late to use my phone’s GPS.”

“I’ve made this trip a bunch of times, I know what I’m doing,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You sound like my mother whenever she and my dad drive together.”

“Oh, gee, thanks,” he laughed. Turning back to the road, he gasped. “STOP THE CAR!”

The woman turned to look back near the side of the road as well and slammed on the brakes. On the side of the road, walking like a zombie was a young girl covered in blood and holding her arm. “Oh my god…” The driver quickly got out, walking towards her. Her husband got out as well, looking on worriedly. “Miss? Miss, are you okay? Miss?” She reached out to try and stop her with a hand to her shoulder. She started at the light touch and screamed, backing away.

“No! No, don’t! Don’t eat me!”

The woman stared in shock as the girl cowered at her. “What…? I…Eric, call an ambulance!”

Outside Portland on the other side of town, someone in a black SUV was drawing a red line from Wyoming to the city. They sighed, tapping the wheel with gloved fingers before putting the map back on the passenger seat. An open file showed several news clippings from Wyoming papers about a huge pile of bones found in the mountains, with photos of them including a human skull. There was also news about missing people that would follow the route there to Portland, and more remains found on the way.

Taking out a phone, they typed “Spice Shops, Portland, Oregon into the search bar. A couple of seconds later, the top searches came up and they copied the addresses down in a small notebook, including “Exotic Spice and Tea”. Putting the notebook back into an inside jacket pocket, their hand brushed over the handle to a knife, a filigree embossed _G_ stamped on the gold pommel of the handle. They started the car and drove into the city in the early morning light.

\-----------------------

"How many boxes of dried green-gill toadstools do you have?" Monroe called, shoving the box back onto the pile. He had agreed to help the Rosalee take inventory of the shop, and the amount of odd things even he wasn't familiar with was growing.

Rosalee smiled and shook her head. "As many as I need. You don't know how hard some of this stuff is to get. I've been trying to get in contact with Freddy and my father’s old suppliers, but some still don't exactly trust me yet. Kind of an old boy’s club."

"They just need to get to know you," he smiled.

She smiled back, stacking several smaller and newly packed boxes. "I'll go put these down below." She hefted the boxes, now labeled thanks to the Blutbad's organizational skills, and headed down into the storeroom. "Finish entering those boxes for me in the ledger?" she called up.

"Right," the Blutbad said. He started tallying several of the counted items in a new ledger Rosalee bought; a large brandy-brown leather bound book that blended in well with the other books and mystic looking things in the shop.

Monroe looked up as the door opened with a slight tinkling of the bell. Rosalee had left the shop open during inventory since most days were slow this time of year and they hadn't really expected anyone to interrupt the inventory taking. Monroe's first thought was that Nick had arrived, having said he'd drop by to help a little, and he was in the middle of a greeting him when he stalled. It wasn't Nick that walked in, but a woman. She had slightly yellowed platinum blond hair cut to just above her shoulders, bangs parted to the side over her forehead. Her nose and lips were both robust, but fit attractively in her face. Wide, dark green-gray eyes scanned the shop, her gaze both sharp and distant as if she were cataloguing what she saw with clinical but detached mind but ready to focus.

"Oh, uh, Hey. Welcome to Exotic Spice and Tea," Monroe said lightly.

The woman turned those assessing eyes to him, blinking once before walking over. She wore simple black boots over skinny but well-worn jeans, a dark green top and thick gray jacket despite the warming spring weather. "Hey. I was hoping you could help me with something; I'm looking for a rare spice in addition to a few others. I don’t really have time to order it though." Her voice was neutral and steady, but held an undercurrent of authority that somewhat surprised the clockmaker. “You’re the third shop I’ve tried.”

Monroe smiled, hoping to maybe get her to relax. "Well, I'm just helping out a friend today but I do know spices pretty well. And rare is sort of the shop's specialty. What in particular?"

The woman didn't rise to the social tone and reached a hand—encased in a black leather glove strangely enough—into her pocket and pulled out a notepad. Flipping through, she found the page she was looking for. "White Horehound, Mistletoe, Yarrow, fresh Witch Hazel, and Juniper Berries, if you have them," she listed out. "I've yet to find them elsewhere."

Monroe was surprised as he took in the list, and then frowned. "I pretty sure we have all those, but...you do know Mistletoe is very poisonous? That whole kissing under it is just for Christmas, and the berries--"

The girl just gave him a flat gaze as she raised a hand to halt him, not seeming annoyed or worried. Just neutral as always. "I have experience with it and all these herbs, you don’t have to worry. I’m in kind of a rush please."

"Okay...Just give me a moment, we're doing inventory."

“I figured,” she said, glancing around. Monroe took down several jars and boxes they'd already labeled to measure out for the customer on the scales. However, when he reached for the jar of yarrow that somehow was put just above his head, it slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor. Shattered glass broke the silence and sent dried white flowers on spindly stems exploding across the floor. "Dammit!" he cursed. He’d yet to break anything before then, and to do so in front of a customer was worse.

“You okay?” the customer asked, looking up from examining a few boxes of tea to walk over.

“Yeah, just let me clean this up and get you a clean jar. I don’t think you want glass in your yarrow,” he said, quickly grabbing the dustpan and hand broom hidden in the corner. “Sorry about this, I promise we’re usually much more organized and professional but everything’s just so jumbled-ow! Son of a—” he bit out, dropping the dustpan when he felt a sharp pain in his finger. Lifting it up, he saw red oozing over one of his knuckles where it had grazed a piece of broken glass. His features shifted a moment in frustration and instinct at the sight of even his own blood.

"Blutbad," a growl came. Monroe's eyes widened and his head whipped up. A cold, predatory gleam flared the girl's eyes as they literally darkened to a deep black. Like two pits of pitch in her face, reflecting his animal features. The deep, ozone scent hit him hard, like a wind carrying in a vicious storm that promised violence. He'd smelled that scent faintly on Nick a couple of times, but this girl was radiating it now in the intent to kill.

"Grimm," he breathed.

What happened next seemed both infinitely slow and incredibly fast. The Girl Grimm practically ripped off her jacket, revealing well-muscled arms and broad shoulders. She had a holster strapped to her back, but it wasn't holding guns. She grabbed an ebony handle pinned to her side, snapping a restraint so that a large—it looked like it was almost the size of her forearm!—hunting knife slipped from the holster at her side under her arm. She lunged over the counter for Monroe, who quickly backpedaled around the side, woging back. This was the charge in head first sort of Grimm apparently.

"Whoa, calm down lady! I'm not that kind of Blutbad!” He swung around the side back to his feet. “I'm a wieder! I'm vegan!” He yelped when she tried to bring the heel of her boot—steel toe he realized—down onto his knee, but he luckily got dodged them. “I do Pilates!"

The Grimm's expression didn't even shift as she came towards him, the blade at the ready. Monroe flailed a bit, his eyes reddening and his fangs rippling in his gums but trying to keep control of himself. He grabbed a jar nearby and threw it at her, but she knocked it away with the back of the blade with precision aim. It smashed against the shelf nearby, and she continued forward. Monroe shifted again, baring his teeth on instinct, but that was obviously not endearing him towards the intent Grimm.

"What the hell's going on?!" The yell had them both pause. Monroe’s blood ran cold when he looked up and saw Rosalee at the top of the stairs nearby, gaping at them.

"It's a Grimm!" Monroe shouted in warning. Rosalee's eyes widened and she cursed, her features shifting as well.

The blonde woman simply sighed in annoyance rather than go for her right away. "A Fuchsbau and a Blutbad? Wonderful..." She lifted one hand blandly, gesturing between Monroe and Rosalee. "Come on then, I'd prefer to end this quickly. You're not the ones I'm hunting."

Monroe growled but breathed deep, trying to stay calm though his whole body was tense in the desire to attack. "Like I said, I'm a wieder."

She arched one eyebrow slightly. "Is that meant to mean something to me? A wesen is a wesen."

Monroe shifted, uneasy now. He knew he shouldn't have expected another Grimm to be anything like Nick, but he could dream. "I'm reformed. I don't like to fight, and I don't eat meat or anything. Ve-gan," he said again, pronouncing the word slowly.

She blinked, tilting her head just slight as if turning the idea in her head. "Well. I suppose if you don't fight, this will be easy enough. You first, then the Fuchsbau." She rushed him before he could reply, sweeping the blade towards his neck. It was only Monroe's own reflexes that had him ducking back quickly and tumbling out of the way.

"What the hell?!” He stood, making sure he was between the blonde and the fox. Fangs and claws grew, eyes turned red and fur sprouted in small leads across his face as he shifted fully, snarling at her.

The woman didn't flourish her weapon or prostrate herself. She only turned to face him, defensive but ready to attack. "I will make it fast if you hold still, I do not relish inflicting pain before death."

"Actually, it's not my first encounter with a Grimm—”

She didn't let him finish as she rushed him again, slashing towards his chest. He hissed as his shirt was cut open and he felt a sting run across it. It wasn't deep though since he'd managed to move back enough it only grazed him. But he couldn’t look at it to make sure because the blade was coming back up. But stepping in, he caught her arm in his grip before it struck and snarled. The Grimm Girl wasn't fazed as she brought her other hand up, punching him hard in the cheek. He let go to stagger back, blinking away stars. If he was human his cheek bone would be fractured at the least. Possibly his jaw. This Grimm was strong, an apparently well aware of her Grimmly abilities. She kept moving with the motion of the blow, bringing her leg up to kick him squarely in the chest and send him stumbling back further. He was really out of practice with fighting that wasn’t a knockdown, drag out brawl. The girl was not as she made to strike at him again.

Rosalee threw a jar of yellow powder however and she was forced to back away as her weapon’s course was thrown off by the blow. The powder erupted, making Monroe's nose tickle and eliciting some coughs as he breathed in. The blonde brought her arm up to block her nose and mouth and glared at the other woman before grabbing a nearby box and hurling it at the Fuchsbau, forcing her to duck behind a column as the wood shattered on the wall. "Stay out of this, I’ll deal with you soon enough!" the Grimm snapped, patience lost. Turning back to Monroe, she leapt at him, using her weight to force him down flat on his back with a coughing yelp from his throat. She raised the blade above her head, the intent to kill in her eyes.

"Freeze, Portland PD!" The all froze, the blonde with her blade poised just above Monroe's jugular. The Blutbad gulped, the point making contact just by the motion. Dark green eyes flicked to the doorway, where Nick stood with his gun raised.

"Nick, thank God," Rosalee breathed.

"Who are you?" the blonde asked, eyes narrowed.

"I'm a Detective with the Portland PD, now drop the weapon!" The woman didn't, still staring at him. "I said drop it!"

"Nick, she's a Grimm," Monroe rasped, trying not to move too much.

The detective's own eyes widened, his grip relaxing in shock a moment.  "A Grimm?"

"Yes. What are you? Another Blutbad?" she asked breezily.

He shook his head, keeping his gun on her but trying to relax enough she wouldn't attempt to take them all out. "No. I'm a Grimm too."

That got her attention. She blinked in surprise several times, that cold expression melted in shock. "What?"

"He's a Grimm and he's also my friend, so kindly get off of me!" Monroe snarled, eyes still red. She looked back down at him coolly, not moving the blade. She had a lot of control to hold it that way so long. "Please," he added quickly, trying to get controlled again.

"I don't appreciate being lied to," she growled back.

"He's not lying," Nick countered. "If you hurt him, I will shoot. Bullets will hurt you."

She stared a moment before rising and taking the blade with her calmly. She stepped away, though didn't sheathe the blade. Monroe scrambled up, moved back and breathing deep as he tried to calm down, though it was obvious he wanted to attack with his claws and red eye still on the surface. Rosalee ran over to look him over and keep him calm, holding him close and stroking through his hair.

The blonde's attention was captured by Nick, looking him over. “You want me to believe you’re a Grimm? Can you prove it?”

“I…don’t know how to do that.” He said honestly. “Um…My mother is Kelly Burkhardt and my aunt was Marie Kessler.”

"Kelly and…Wait, Kelly and Marie Kessler?” The woman’s jaw dropped with her eyes wide in shock, the first truly noticeable emotion she’d shown. “ _You’re_ Nicki?!” she asked, her voice cracking.

Nick was just as thrown off. “What? I…Only my mother calls me that…”

She groaned, running a hand through her hair as she took in a deep breath, looking close to a minor breakdown. “Nicholas Burkhardt…Ugh, her husband’s name was Reed Burkhardt. You’re Kelly Kessler’s son, oh my God…”

“How do you know all that?” Nick asked in surprise.

She looked at him with a wilted expression.  "Because I know your mother. Hell, I’ve worked with her! I spoke to her two months ago, and she mentioned her son. But obviously neglected a few details when she described you…”

“You talked to her?” he asked quickly. “Is she okay?”

She huffed a little but eyed him more appraisingly. “Like I said, we crossed paths not too long ago on her way to Greece. I told her I was heading to the Northwest and she asked me to come check on you if I passed near Portland. I should’ve realized there wouldn’t be any other Grimm here but…” she snorted. “She neglected to mention you were a cop, and more importantly, that you’ve lost your mind and befriended a bunch of wesen! If my own mentor were here she would say to kill you before you cause things to get worse.”

"You try it, I'll put aside my reformation to rip you apart," Monroe growled. She cast her eyes to him, looking surprised again. Rosalee was also glaring at her. Apparently she hadn't expected their defense of a Grimm by wesen so readily.

Nick held a hand to Monroe to get him to calm down, though he smiled in appreciation. "I'm a cop, so technically I work for the city," he said, letting the gun drop but not putting it away. "And those are my friends."

The disgust was more evident now. "You are friends with a Blutbad and a Fuchsbau? Do you have any pride as a Grimm?"

He glared. "I'm a cop first. And I only go after the bad ones."

She snorted softly. "In the time it takes you to determine 'good' from 'bad', how many innocent people could end up dead? How many times could they kill you? How irresponsible was your mentor?"

"I didn't exactly have one," Nick ground out. "Unless you count Monroe I suppose,” he added. Monroe smiled a bit, pleased despite the danger he was in. “I kind of just started learning all this a couple of years ago."

She sighed. “She did say you were a late bloomer,” she said. “When did you inherit exactly?”

"Huh?"

"When did you get your abilities?" she slowly, drawing the words out as if speaking to a slow child despite being around Nick's age.

"Like I said, not long ago. Maybe about two years ago now that I think about it..."

"Has it really been that long?" Monroe asked in surprise. He jumped as the blade in the female Grimm's hand swung to point at him.

"No one is talking to you, Blutbad. Shut up or I’ll shut you up for good," she ordered.

Monroe bristled, tempted to growl but also tempted to keep that blade far away.

"Don't threaten him," Nick said again.

She glared, her grip tightening on the knife. "You have actually befriended a wesen? A Blutbad at that?”

"Yeah. And a Fuchsbau," he nodded to Rosalee, "And some Eisbiebers, Jagerbars, Reinegans—granted some only after I arrested them or their family…"

The woman actually rubbed over her forehead as if mortified by the very idea. "I cannot believe this...”

Nick glared, annoyed with her reaction now. "Look no one prepared me for this,” he said honestly. “In fact, the whole Grimm thing only came out in the week before Aunt Marie died. And I thought mom had died a while before that. Neither of them ever brought this up while I was growing up, and Marie wasn’t able to tell me much of anything before she passed. Since then I haven’t really met any other Grimms. I'm teaching myself with what she left behind, with help from my friends."

She looked more confused, processing all of that. But she still shook her head in disbelief. “Making friends with wesen? That’s dangerous for everyone involved!”

"I'm just trying to keep things fair," Nick said calmly, not wanting her to start brandishing the knife again. "Wesen deserve justice just as much as humans."

She glared at him again, outraged. "Most humans have no defenders other than us, you bleeding heart. If what you said was true, we'd all be dead for the kills of our ancestors, and so would they." She looked between all of them though before sighing and sheathing her knife, stooping to pick up her jacket. “I don’t have time for this. You are the least of my worries so as long as you and your “friends” stay out of the way I’ll let you go. For now. I have a Wolkenkratzer to hunt."

"A Wolkenkratzer?!" Monroe and Rosalee asked in shock.

"In Portland?" Monroe finished. The woman ignored them as she zipped her jacket up and turned to walk to the door. Nick stood resolutely in her way.

"Move."

"I plan on arresting you. For assault at the least." He holstered his gun, reaching for his handcuffs now that her weapon was gone.

She arched an eyebrow. "Do you now?"

"Yes, I do." He reached for her shoulder, but before he got it she grabbed his hand, turned it and got behind him in a flash of movement to press it into his back, her other arm going around his neck. Nick grunted, trying to dislodge her but she was strong and he couldn’t do more than struggle a little. Monroe and Rosalee jumped to their feet as if to save him, but she kept Nick between her and them as a shield.

"Being a Grimm is not some sort of hobby," she said, low and serious. "You may play this as a game, _detective_ , but lives are at risk. We are meant to hunt them, we are meant to kill them. They are not our pets, never our friends,” she recited as if this had been drilled into her head many times. The rehearsed tone made Nick curious despite the pain in his shoulder. Then her grip tightened and a bit more conviction came into her voice, as if reminding herself of something. "See how long it takes for them to turn on you. You will have only yourself to thank." She pushed him away, getting out the door before he could recover.

Nick stumbled but whirled around quickly and rushed out the door. As he looked around to try and find her though there was no sign of her. “Damn…” He went back in, noting the troubled looks on his friends. “You guys okay? Shit, Monroe, your chest…”

“I’m alright, it’s just a scratch.”

“I can patch him up,” Rosalee agreed distractedly.

“I’ll track her down, get her to leave—” he began.

“Not before she takes care of the Wolkenkratzer you won’t,” Monroe said as he took off what remained of his shirt.

“…Okay, what is that exactly?” Nick asked, realizing he had no clue. “I’ve been studying the books as often as I can but considering my German is still less than beginner level…”

“Trouble. Big trouble, not to put a pun in there,” Monroe said as he sat on a stool and dabbed at his chest with what was left of his shirt. Rosalee went to the back room to retrieve the medical kit. “Fe, fi, fo, fum kind of trouble…”

Nick’s mind balked a moment even though he thought he couldn’t be surprised anymore. “…You’re kidding me…A giant?”

“Sort of. Wolkenkratzer are like giants but thankfully they are not several stories tall. Just...well, they still put most NBA players to shame.” Rosalee came back, taking out some gauze and antiseptic to start going over the wound. He winced but didn’t complain.

“So they’re really tall?”

“And strong,” Rosalee added. “Vicious too. They’ll eat anything that moves. _Anything._ Animals, humans, other wesen. Even Siegbarste would have trouble against them if they really got going. They usually live near mountains and if anything gets into their territory they go into a rage.”

“…The Mountains aren’t far from here…” Nick said. “Maybe that’s where she was heading to look for this thing?”

“I haven’t heard of a Wolkenkratzer anywhere nearby,” Monroe said. “Granted they aren’t social creatures outside of their own kind, especially if they’re the wild sort, but the old rumor mill would at least alert us I would hope. There’s a lot of area around there to just try and search.” Nick frowned, looking at the broken bits and pieces around the shop. “Renard might want to know,” the Blutbad said suddenly as Rosalee bandaged him up. “At least about a strange Grimm in the neighborhood. If she does anything illegal—like threatening more wesen townspeople— he might appreciate the warning.”

Nick nodded slightly and grabbed his phone, dialing the police captain. It rang for a few moments before it was picked up. “Detective Burkhardt, rare for you to call me like this. Can I help you?”

“Maybe…There’s a slight problem that falls more inside my…part-time job,” he said meaningfully. They needed some sort of code for this.

“Oh?” he asked, his interest immediately piqued.

“There’s another Grimm in Portland.”

It was silent a moment before he heard him take a deep breath. “A real one? Or one like our disturbed intern last year?”

“A real one. She came into the spice shop, started a fight with Monroe and Rosalee.”

“Are they alright?”

Nick had to admit he appreciated the slight worried tone in the Captain’s voice. Sometimes he wondered where Renard’s loyalties lay or if they were all game pieces to him. “They’re fine, I managed to interrupt, we had a little verbal argument and she got away when she ran for it. Apparently she knows my mother. And she didn’t leave before giving me grief for being friendly with my “enemies”…”

“You think that’s bad, if another Grimm found out you were working with me we’d both be in trouble…” he said honestly.

Nick wanted to ask why but figured that might be more of a private discussion. “There’s one other thing.”

“Dare I ask?” he sighed.

“She said she was hunting a Wolkenkratzer.”

It was silent again for a few moments before he heard a muttered curse in what he thought was French. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, Monroe and Rosalee heard it too.”

“This is not good…Then again if they kill each other, two birds with one stone.”

“Renard…” he said warningly.

“I’m joking, Nick. Mostly. The truth is that makes too much sense with a call we just got in.”

“Sir?”

“A girl was found wandering the woods by Germantown road by a couple of drivers. She was covered in blood, but her worst injury was a broken arm that didn’t break the skin. She started screaming “Don’t let him eat me” when they got close and broke down before passing out. The ambulance took her to the hospital for treatment and I was just thinking it might be your sort of case, so I already had Hank start on it. He’ll probably call you in a few minutes since technically there is no scene just yet.”

“Seriously…? Great.”

There was a slight pause and he sighed. “You want to go after this other Grimm, don’t you?”

“…Yes. Another Grimm, it’s just…I’d like to talk to her a bit more. Even if we end up at each other’s throats. She did threaten to kill me, but I don’t think her heart was in it.”

“If it was I’m fairly sure one of you would be dead by now. I know I can’t stop you once your mind is made up, so just be careful. Truthfully the Wolkenkratzer would be more trouble than a Grimm in some ways, so if you can get it under control somehow we’d all be better off. Dead might be the only way to do that so you know. Keep me posted if you don’t mind.”

“Right, will do.” He hanged up and sighed as went over the counter, thinking. “Now I just have to find her…” He blinked when he noticed a note pad on the counter and picked it up. It had a list of plants on it. “This isn’t yours, is it?”

“No, that’s the uber-Grimm’s,” Monroe said. “She was looking for that stuff. But I’m not tracking her; I don’t want to end up with any more knife wounds.”

Nick frowned but started to flip through it a bit and paused at one page, smiling a bit. “Can you get me all this stuff real quick?”

“Why?” the Blutbad asked suspiciously.

“I’d like to bring a peace offering.”

\-----------------------------

Renard glowered as he hanged the phone up, sitting back in his office chair. Another Grimm, especially one outside his sphere of influence, was definitely a problem. He knew Nick would do his best to make ties with this Grimm somehow, but if they were too hostile then it could only end up getting him killed and then making havoc for everything he was working for. Then again, if he could turn another Grimm and Renard could convince that one to work towards his cause as well…

Pulling his phone out, he selected an unnamed number from his contacts and typed a message.

 _New hunting dog passing through. Possibly rabid, but on the trail of some big game. The other is trying to make friends I think._ _If it bares its teeth at the wrong time or target, it might have to be put down._

There was a moment before a reply came.

_Understood, we’ll be ready._

\---------------------------

Macie opened her eyes slowly. She was lying on the ground, her whole body aching. It felt like she’d been wrung out like a wet rag and tossed on a concrete floor. But she was still whole, untwisted, and the floor was made of dirt and leaves.

And alive.

What had happened last night was still in her mind and she started shaking. That _thing_ had come into their camp and decimated them—taking bites out of her friends like a try me platter at a supermarket.

She’d seen her sister try to hit him to save Grant and her blood ran cold when he grew taller with sickening cracks like bones snapping. He backhanded Tonia, sending her flying into a tree with a yell. She crumpled down, still conscious but now cradling her arm with a sob.

Faster than he had a right to be, he pushed down Candace and then threw her against a tree. Then he reached out with his terrifying limbs and grabbed Sean and Adrian, smashing them together. He was knocking them all out Macie realized. Incapacitating them. Drake and Ruth tried to run, but with his long legs and long arms he caught them and smashed them against the ground hard enough even Macie stopped breathing.

Then he started taking bites from them. Drake he must not have liked because he tossed him up, not caring when he landed among the branches. He wasn’t moving anymore, no sound could be heard.

Macie had avoided attention because she was frozen in place, but she knew this thing wasn’t going to ignore her for much longer. And not her sister either. Mustering her strength, Macie had gone for Tonia and gotten her to her feet, pushing her to move. “Go! I’ll distract him!”

“What? Macie-“

“Run!” She shouted, pushing her. The creature lifted his head, his beard dripping red. With a gurgling growl he turned to move for them, just as Tonia managed to start running into the darkening forest.

And by luck, that was when Sean shot him with the flare gun right in the side.

The creature howled, a sound like nails running down a chalkboard pitched down to a base tone. The flair burned his skin and left a nice wound. In return, he stomped down on Sean and Macie shuddered. She turned to run as well, follow Tonia, but then something hit her in the back and she went sprawling. It was Sean’s body, and though she screamed she couldn’t get out from under it. The thudding footsteps came closer and she looked up with horror at the misshapen visage of the creature. His eyes were like coal, with two dimly burning embers inside. No remorse, no care. Just a smoldering desire to cause pain.

Macie had fainted. Somehow though, she’d still woken up. She was alive. And in one piece.

But she was not at the camp. She was somewhere out in the woods. How had she gotten there?

Then she saw the bag. Well, it had once been one of their tents. But it was a bag now, and inside she saw someone’s arm sticking out of it. Pale, stiff, unmoving with a bit of bone sticking out.

Breathing a little faster, she looked around. She didn’t see that creature anywhere nearby. Slowly she sat up, trying to stay quiet. Scanning the trees, she finally spotted it to her right, looking around and sniffing the air like an animal. It wore clothes like a man, it even looked like a man again, but it acted like something wild and it was ready to kill at a moment’s notice. Knowing that, Macie was as quiet as she could be as she pushed herself up and tried to crawl in the opposite direction. Getting to her feet was hard because her legs wouldn’t stop shaking. Up ahead though she saw their camp through the trees. So he hadn’t left yet. She knew where she was, she knew where the trail was. She just had to get to the other side of the camp.

Getting to the edge though she almost collapsed. Everything was destroyed, the tents shredded, their equipment wrecked. But more than that, there was blood everywhere. Enough she could smell it, the coppery tang making her gag. Her friends bodies were strewn about, missing pieces that she realized now where in that tent like a doggy-bag. “Oh God…” she sobbed quietly, covering her mouth.

Then she heard a loud growl and steps rushing towards her. _How could he hear me?!_ Sobbing, she pushed up and tried to run on both legs across the camp. The man-creature was faster though and soon had tackled her before she could make it to the path. Screaming, she tried to beat him off of her with flailing fists and kicks. He struck her hard enough across the face she saw stars. Then she felt his hand at her foot.

When he twisted, his strength was so hard he turned her foot in a direction it should not go with a sickening _snap_.

Macie screamed again and she felt like someone should be able to hear that all the way to the city. Her vision swam and then went black as she passed out from the pain once more. She didn’t feel him put her over his shoulder, grab his sack of leftovers and walk off again deeper into the woods.

 -------------------

Juliette petted over the golden retriever she’d just finished vaccinating, smiling. “Okay, Jackson, just a blood test and your all good.”

She paused as her cell phone rang, with the ring tone she set for Nick, and frowned just slightly.

“That’s Nick isn’t it?” the dog’s owner, her old friend Megan, asked.

“Uh, yeah…”

“Go ahead, I don’t mind,” she smiled understandingly.

Juliette tried to smile back as she grabbed the phone and hit the call button. “Nick? Everything okay?” she asked, trying to sound lighthearted despite still not being comfortable. Her memories of the man she supposedly loved were still practically non-existent, even the ones where she knew he must fit in.

“Yeah, I just…I’m, uh, kind of working a case and I thought I should let you know about this one.”

“Okay…why?”

“This person threatened Monroe and Rosalee. Started a brawl with Monroe.”

“Are they okay?” she asked quickly.

Nick sighed a little, bitter maybe that she cared so openly about them and was still getting used to him. She felt a little guilty. “They’re shaken up and Monroe has some scratches, but they’ll be okay. I was coming to help them out with their inventory and came at the right time. I think there’s more to this attack though, so I want to track this perp down. I just thought I should kind of warn you, if you should happen to see Monroe and Rosalee later. I know you talked about going over to help them with inventory too...”

“Okay…Thanks for the warning.”

“Of course. I’ll…talk to you later?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah…later.” She hanged up before he could say anything more.

“Must be hard having a man that works such long hours,” Megan said as tactfully as she could, petting over her dog. “Everything okay? Sounded a little…tense.”

“We’re…working through some stuff,” Juliette replied, getting her syringe ready. She couldn’t exactly explain she’d forgotten everything about her boyfriend somehow, not with someone that apparently knew him and how long they were together. It was strange to think this woman knew more about her boyfriend of seven years than she did.

“I hope you can work it out then, you two are good for each other. But I know how hard it can be, especially with a stressful job like his. I had a boyfriend in the army once, drove me nuts he was always gone. Must be easier when they’re at least in the same country. Though I guess his job is just as dangerous, if not more some days, huh?”

“Yeah…” Juliette said. There was still the feeling there was something even more dangerous lurking around Nick though, the shadowy visions she was seeing and nightmares she was having doing nothing to help her anxiety. It did nothing to quell her questions either.

\---------------------------------------

Nick used speaker phone to call Hank in the car as he drove. “Hey, Hank.”

“Hey man. We have a case.”

“I heard…Renard thinks it might be wesen related.”

“Yeah. The girl was found talking about a monster trying to eat her and her friends. Kind of sounds up our alley.”

“No kidding.”

“It gets worse I’m afraid. I contacted the girl’s parents already. They’re rushing up over from Salt Lake City but I was able to get information. Her name is Antonia Swindon, a freshman at Lewis and Clark College while her sister, Marcia, is a sophomore. Both of them were going on a camping trip with friends for the last weekend in Spring Break. Out on Thursday, back on Sunday was their plan. Cheap way to spend summer break for some poor college kids. No one knows exactly where they are in the woods though; they were just going to hike and camp. So according to them because they wanted a list of everyone who was coming, we have roughly seven people missing.”

“Damn, seven?” he sighed.

“Yeah. I’m hoping we can narrow down the search when she wakes up, otherwise we’re going to need a lot of manpower to search for them.”

“Well…I might have one ace up my sleeve.”

“Monroe? You think he can track them?”

“Oh…well, two aces then.”

“What’s the other ace, card shark?”

“There’s…another Grimm in Portland.”

“Another Grimm?!” Hank barked over the phone. He immediately looked sheepishly around the hospital parking lot, glad no one had heard him apparently. “You met another Grimm? A real one? Who’s not related to you?” he asked more calmly.

“Yeah. It’s another woman. She’s pretty tough too, or acts tough at least,” Nick said over speaker phone, driving out towards the woods.

“Is she cute?”

“Hank…”

“It’s a legitimate question. But I guess the better one is what’s she doing here?”

“Besides threatening Monroe and Rosalee, and me too, apparently paralleling our case with her own hunt.”

“Come again?”

“The girl that was found, talking about someone trying to eat her? Renard says it sounds like it could be related to the wesen she’s hunting, called a Wolkenkratzer.”

“Great, something else that eats people…” Hank said with a sigh. “I’m at the hospital with the girl, but she’s still unconscious. Do you want me to meet you?”

“I…don’t think so,” he said honestly. “I mean, I’d like to have you here, but I get the feeling she might not like that you know about all this. She seems…traditional.”

“So trying to keep her out of the loop here, huh?” he asked, not taking it personally thankfully.

“Yeah. It might be best if she goes after this, I don’t want her trying to kill ever wesen in town.”

“I’d prefer that too. I’m starting to think there’s more wesen than people,” he chuckled. “I’ll wait here then for our witness to wake up, but try to keep _me_ in the loop at least. Check in regularly actually, just so I know she’s not trying to kill you for real.”

“I promise I will,” Nick said, smiling despite himself. “Let me know if the witness wakes up, it might be good to question her about this before we go wandering the woods.”

“Roger that.” They ended the call and Nick glanced at the notebook again, noting the quickly sketched map. It wasn’t exactly encrypted with its simple picture of a road, trees on either side, a street name hastily scrawled and a building with a cross on it. He’d lived in Portland long enough to know where the buildings thinned out at the edges, and where there was an abandoned church on one of them near an old road. He was sometimes called there to break up illegal parties and the like.

Sure enough just a little down from the building he found a large dark blue SUV parked by the side of the road. It had California plates and looked fairly old but kept in good shape.  Nick parked his car and got out to approach the large SUV slowly. There was no trailer like his aunt's, but he could see quite a few boxes in back that were under lock and key. He figured that must be where the majority of her things were as he peered at them curiously.

A line of cold metal pressed against his cheek and he gasped. It was the blunt wide back of the blade, but he had a feeling if he wasn't careful it would turn over and bite him with the sharp edge easily enough.

"I will give you credit, you are apparently a decent detective," the cool voice said.

Nick held up his hands to show he didn't have a weapon in his hand, straightening. The blade followed his movements. He wiggled the notebook to get her attention to it. “Easy when you have a map.” She gave an annoyed click of her tongue and reached forward and to pluck it from his hands, which gave it willingly. "I just want to talk," he said.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Ouch. That honestly hurt,” he said blandly. She was silent to the attempt at humor. "Look, I know we didn't get off on the right foot-I don't exactly like people attacking my friends. But I've never met another Grimm. Unless you count my aunt, but I didn't know she was one till...well, she had cancer. And then my mom, but I thought she’d been dead for years before she showed up again and…it’s complicated. We didn’t have much time to catch up.” He rolled his eyes at himself. “My point is, you’re the first one I’ve met who isn’t my relative…right?” he finished, unsure now.

There was a pause before the blade finally moved away. She breathed out silently in an impatient sigh. "No, we are not related. Different family line all the way as far as I know. I’m not entirely convinced you’re related to Kelly or Marie either.”

“Well considering I do still have baby pictures, I think I can prove that…” Nick said snidely.

“Why are you here?” Sloane asked.

"Can I turn around?"

"Yes, but don't try anything foolish. You’re no match for me."

"You're confidence is certainly lethal..." Nick turned around, keeping his hands up. "I just came to talk. This...Wolkenkratzer? Do you need help?" She hardly looked impressed by his offer. "Hey, I've been doing okay on my own you know. I even went up against a Siegbarste."

She seemed a bit more interested at that, looking at him considerately. "Oh? That’s impressive. How did you defeat him?”

He opened his mouth then felt himself blush when he realized how this would sound. "...I ended up in the hospital after he attacked me at my house, my human girlfriend blinded him with boiling water to keep him from killing me..." he admitted.

She rolled her eyes. "I should've known. Did you befriend him too?"

"No. He's dead. Monroe shot him with an old elephant gun that had the gift in it."

"Who's Monroe?" she asked curiously.

"The Blutbad you tried to kill."

She stared long and hard at him. "...You're serious?" she finally asked, brow arched as if expecting a punchline.

"Yep. I told you, he's my friend. I trust him with my life, and he hasn't let me down."

"Yet,” she snorted.

"He won't let me down," Nick said with conviction. "He didn't want to kill anyone, but he did to save my partner, Hank, when the siegbarste tried to kill him. He's loyal as they come."

"So he's your dog?" she smirked.

" _Friend,_ ” Nick stressed.

She sighed and rubbed her temple. "I don't care. Look, I have real work to do. I need to—" She tensed when Nick reached into his pocket, moving to bring the blade up, but he quickly brought out a large brown bag instead.

"The spice shop doesn’t usually deliver, but I figured you still needed this." He offered the bag to her. Eyeing him suspiciously, she snatched it out of his hand roughly and managed to open it one handed she peaked inside. Her expression shifted only minutely back to her poker face when she saw the herbs and spices she had asked for inside. “Everything you wrote down is in there."

"...Thanks."

"Thank Rosalee." She arched her eyebrows. "The Fuchsbau. And Monroe."

She narrowed her eyes, as if to say dream on. Moving around the back of the SUV she clicked her key ring and pulled open the trunk. Nick followed, looking curiously over her shoulder. She brought over a large wooden cabinet and unlocked the doors in front, revealing many drawers inside. It was about the size of his chest, so it didn't hold as much as the one in the trailer. Opening drawers she began putting the spices away. "What do I owe you?"

"An explanation would be nice."

"I meant money for the herbs. I don't want to be indebted to you,” she said dryly.

"I'll forget about the money for the explanation. So you're tracking this Wolkenkratzer?"

She sighed quietly but kept organizing the spices. "Do you know anything about them to start with?"

"Monroe and Rosalee told me about them. They're tall in disguise, but grow even taller when they transform, like about nine feet or more. And are known for eating anything or anyone that gets in their territory. They leave large pits of bones of their victims, called…um…”

“Knochengrube. Literally ‘bone pit’,” she supplied.

“Right, that,” he said with a slightly embarrassed smile. “They usually live in the mountains because they like high altitudes-"

“Wait,” she held up a hand. “Let me see if I understand this, you are being tutored in wesen by a Blutbad and a Fuchsbau?"

He nodded. "They're often more valuable than my aunt's books. They know things some of them don't."

She blinked, looking considerate a moment, which made him smile hopefully, before shaking her head and turning to finish putting the herbs away. "That’s stupid. They could feed you false information."

He shook his head. "They wouldn't. Did they tell me anything wrong about the Wolkenkratzer?"

"...No, that is their M.O. and appearance in a nutshell.” She folded her arms and rested the backs of her thighs against the car’s back door with a huff of annoyance. “I've been tracking this one from Wyoming."

"That far?" Nick asked in shock.

"Yes. Wolkenkratzer are rarely domestic, they’re often wild born and prone to—”

“Bouts of destructive rampages, I know, they told me.”

“I’m so happy for you,” she sneered. “So I guess I don’t have to tell you anything else, hotshot?” Nick was quiet a moment, unsure how best to answer that. On one hand he didn’t want to be condescended to, on the other he really didn’t know much. She nodded as if reading his mind. “I thought so. As I was saying, it’s common in their kind for some reason to give into the wild side and just go feral. Like a wildeman, but ten times worse. The one I’m tracking had been hanging out around the Rocky Mountains for several years near as I can tell. Usually he got deer and bears or stray livestock, but when he could he picked off hikers around the mountains, usually from campgrounds or cabins when they got too close. A knochengrube was found down the side of the mountain a few months ago, about thirty human victims over the course of maybe a decade intermixed with hundreds, maybe thousands of animals. I knew that was a good sign some sort of wesen in the area. A Wolkenkratzer was…not what I hoped for, though it made sense.” She shifted a bit, her mouth in a sour frown. “I found him and almost had him but he managed to escape and ran before I was able to finish him off.” She looked at him snidely. "Are you going to try and befriend him too? Become BFFs?"

"...I can arrest him, he--"

She held up a hand, shaking her head. "This thing has probably been off the grid for years, assuming he was even on it to have any records. He’s more beast than man, I’m not sure he still understands human speech anymore. He’s also strong enough to raise a boulder almost twice my weight above his head and hurl it at me. I speak from first-hand experience. If you have a prison strong enough to hold a nine foot tall man with the strength of ten men, and don't mind loosing quite a few guards to his craving for flesh, as well as handcuffs that could fit around something as thick as a small tree trunk, be my guest,” she finished with a sarcastic flourish.

Nick was quiet a while, looking away as he absorbed all that. Truthfully he felt killing this thing was the better option, but he didn’t want to admit that in the face of her ease in saying so. He floundered for a response before closing his mouth.

"I thought as much. I can handle him if your delicate sensibilities don't want to kill him," she said coldly.

He bristled at the challenge, glaring. “It’s not that I can’t kill. I just don't like it. I’ve taken down several of those that tried to kill me and others, and I killed several reapers.”

"Reapers?" she asked in surprise. “Here? After you?”

"Yeah. Someone wanted Aunt Marie dead, even though she was dying from cancer already...But then others came. Two came at once and I managed to get both of them. Monroe even suggested boxing up their heads and sending them to an address we found on them as an intimidation tactic.”

She wrinkled her nose a bit at that, though she also looked a bit admiring as she considered it. She looked at him more curiously, and then her expression turned surprisingly soft. “…I am sorry about Marie. I’d heard about her passing from others, but I had not realized she was that sick. She seemed too strong.”

“Did you know my aunt well?” he asked, turning to lean against the car as well. She moved slightly over, still eyeing him, but nodded.

"Of course. Marie was an amazingly talented Grimm, as well as your aunt. Your mother is well known too. And they were both good friends of my mentor." She actually looked a bit sad. "Like I said, I’d heard Marie passed on, but rumors can’t always be trusted…I guess I’d hoped she’d just gone into hiding.” She sighed, folding her arms as she looked up towards the sky. “She actually saved me once when I was still in training. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for her rescuing me, and I was quite awed by her. She was so strong and determined and…she left an impression. It was hard to imagine her dying of anything. Especially an illness…though I guess that’s a testament that it was something she couldn’t just kill that got her. Kelly is strong and amazing too, I’ve gotten to work with her a couple of times over the years."

Nick looked a bit uneasy. He knew his aunt and mother had likely killed many wesen, but he didn't like thinking about it. The girl was looking at him now more considering, maybe like a puzzle.

"You’re Kelly’s son, Marie Kessler’s nephew, but you are so…weak. You haven’t killed that Blutbad or Fuchsbau. Why?” She sounded honestly curious now, less judging and more confused.

Nick breathed through his nose and leveled his gaze at her. “I got to know them. Monroe is reformed, he doesn’t eat meat at all, doesn’t hunt. Not to eat things. He’s helped me track murderous wesen and victims and saved people too. And Rosalee…I wouldn’t recommend making her angry, but she’s usually so calm and caring I don’t see it often. She’s has an amazing sense of justice, she helps keep us all on the right path I think, and she’s so good with herbs that she’s helped us cure people afflicted by different wesen ailments. We suppressed a Ziegvolk lawyer’s hormone power a couple of days ago to make sure a wesen that committed murder didn’t get off easy.  They’ve had my back more than once, and I try to make sure to have theirs.”

“…So you’re soft,” she summarized with a deadpanned look.

Nick glared. “I’m not soft!”

“What I’ve seen says otherwise.” She closed the cabinet and then her car, making him get up. “You’d be a liability out there against something like a Wolkenkratzer; I can handle it on my own.”

Nick glared before risking setting a hand on her shoulder. She moved to grab it but he was faster this time and blocked her, then blocked the blow she tried to give with her arm. “I may be new to being a Grimm, but I’ve been an officer of the law for a while. I know how to take care of myself.”

She arched her eyebrows. “Debatable. If I were really trying you’d be down by now.”

“You are really cocky, aren’t you?” he sneered.

“I’m confident. It’s what comes from experience,” she said, wrenching her arms free.

“Well I’ve been doing fine my own way, so I’m pretty confident too. I also have a lead on your Wolkenkratzer already.”

That got her attention. “What? How?”

Nick sighed. “A girl was found this morning, injured and wandering the side of the road through the woods more north of here. She said something tried to eat her, and apparently she was on a camping trip with a bunch of other people who are now missing.”

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?! If he’s already hunting large parties here, it’s a matter of time before he sets up a new territory! He might not even wait to get to the mountains!”

“I’ve been trying to be civil with you!”

“Screw civility, we need to get that monster before anyone else dies!”

Nick’s phone buzzed before he could say anything back and he looked at it. “…Our witness is awake at the hospital.”

“Great, let’s go. You drive; I don’t have room in my car for a passenger.”

“Wait, what?”

“I want to see what this witness has to say, she might give me some insight where the Wolkenkratzer is. And my car is full of my stuff, so if you want to come along we’ll have to take yours.”

“If _I_ want to come along?” he asked incredulously. “I’m the police officer here! You’re not getting anywhere near the witness.”

She glared at him. “Fine. I’ll go searching the woods on my own then, which was already my plan. If I find him first, I take the kill alone.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” he said seriously.

“I’m prepared for that,” she replied back, and the equal seriousness actually worried Nick a moment. She really was ready to rush headline into the possibility of death.

Nick sighed. “Okay. You can come with me to the hospital. But, I’m asking the questions.”

She still frowned but rolled her eyes. “Fine. Lead on then, Detective.”

Nick gave her a somewhat sour look but headed to his car, letting her climb in the passenger seat. Before they took off, Nick texted back on his phone to Hank. _I’m on my way. The other Grimm is coming with me. I think it’s best to play dumb, she’s not exactly friendly._

He hit send and moved to start the car but paused a moment. "What's your name?"

She looked up, blinking. "What?"

"Your name. You know mine. I'd like to know yours."

She slowed buckling her seatbelt. She seemed to be thinking something over before she spoke again. "Sloane. Sloane Larson."

"Sloane...I'd say it's nice to meet you, but truthfully you didn't make the best first impression."

She just arched her eyebrow at him. "The feeling is mutual, Detective Burkhardt.” She seemed to be shutting back down, putting up walls again. "Can we go now?”

Nick sighed and started the car, driving back to the city in silence and towards the hospital.

Nick got another text along the way but didn’t look at it until they got to the hospital. Hank had texted back, _I’m getting ahold of the girl’s parents, they were visiting relatives in Salt Lake and just got back to us. I’ll handle talking to them, you handle the girl and your new BFF._

Nick huffed a little at the joke.

“What? Are we going?” Sloane asked impatiently.

“Yes. My partner is heading on another part of the case, so I guess that eliminates the problem of trying to explain you to him,” he bluffed.

“Ah. I was figuring on posing as your partner, so this does work out.”

“Excuse me?” Nick asked in surprise.

“What? Not the first time I’ve posed as law enforcement. “Is that a problem?”

“I…yes, do not impersonate a police officer,” he said with a hint of desperation.

Sloane looked like she wanted to argue, but then shrugged. “Fine. My badge box is back at the car anyway.”

“Your…okay, I’m not going to ask more” he sighed, getting out of the car.

Sloane followed him in. He took out his badge and showed it to the nurse. “I’m Detective Burkhardt with the Portland PD. I'm here to speak with Antonia Swindon.”

“Yes, Detective Griffin said you’d be by in his place. She’s conscious but…very traumatized,” the nurse said, looking anxious for her patient.

“I promise I’m going to try to make this as short and painless as possible, but if those other campers are still out there we need some help trying to locate them.”

“Of course, she’s in room 205…” the nurse nodded. She looked at Sloane curiously.

“Sarah Jones,” Sloane said with an affable smile and holding her hand out. “I’m a counselor who offered to accompany Detective Burkhardt while his partner is busy. I hope to be able to make sure Miss Swindon is as comfortable as possible while we question her.”

The nurse smiled and shook her hand. “I see, that’s a nice precaution.”

Sloane smiled and nodded to Nick, who was looking at her in utter confusion. He turned and headed with her towards the room. “Sarah Jones? Counselor?” he said when they were out of earshot of the nurse.

“Keep it simple, it’s easy for you but harder for them to remember when it’s simple. She’ll run through “Smith” and “Johnson” and never be quite sure. Also, probably a lot of Sarah Jones in the world,” she replied. “She wasn’t going to let me go through without an explanation, and she already met your partner.”

“You seem comfortable lying…”

“I’m comfortable with a lot of things you probably aren’t,” she replied snidely.

Nick rolled his eyes but they got in the elevator and headed up to the room. It was empty except for a girl sitting up in bed. She had a few nasty looking bruises and cuts, her arm in a stark white cast, but was otherwise whole bodily. She jumped however when the door opened and looked at them with wide frightened eyes. “Miss Swindon? I’m Detective Burkhardt. Are you okay to talk?” She nodded slowly, not quite relaxing but easing back against the pillows. Nick came in and Sloane followed. “This is Sarah. She’s here to help as well. We just want to ask you some questions about what’s happened.”

“I figured…” she said quietly. “I knew someone probably would.”

Nick nodded slowly. “So…we heard you were out camping with your friends?”

“And my sister…”

“Right, your sister Marcia.”

“Macie…we don’t call her Marcia…” she said, hand tightening in the sheets. “It was supposed to be just something to do for the long weekend, since we didn’t have much else going on for spring break…We parked and we hiked to a spot to camp at…everything was fine…it was fine…”

“But what happened then?”

“You won’t believe me,” she said immediately. “No one does. No one will. No one can stop that-that thing…” she whispered, drawing her legs up to her chest. “They didn’t believe me, they think I’ve just lost it…But I didn’t! I didn’t imagine it!”

Nick was going to try and calm her down when Sloane stepped forward. “He was tall wasn’t he?” She asked. The gentle tone of her voice surprised Nick enough he didn’t immediately stop her. He didn’t think she could do gentle. “Not like a normal person, like a tree. Smelled awful, like rotting meat. Lots of hair and nasty teeth.” She kept the gentle, almost sad tone despite talking about something so gruesome.

Antonia looked at her in surprise before nodding desperately. “Yes! Yes…he was real? He had to be…”

“He’s real. I’ve been hunting for him.” Nick looked at her in surprise again, not expecting her to validate Antonia that quickly.

“Is h-he a monster?”

“Yes,” she said equally matter-of-factly.

“He killed them…he killed all of them…my s-sister got me to run but sh-she…” she started choking up and crying.

“Miss Swindon, you don’t have to talk about this if you’re—” Nick started.

“No, she does,” Sloane said, casting him a reproachful look. She looked back at Antonia. “I know it must be hell thinking about it again, especially while it’s still fresh in your memories. But fresh is good.” She pulled out a map and set it down showing the forest near the road she was found. “If you can remember the vicinity where you all were, we can get…get your friend’s remains back for their families. Get your sister back. And I can go hunting for this thing so it won’t do this again and you’ll be safe.”

Antonia was still crying and rocking a little but she looked at the map. Nick wanted to drag Sloane out of there and berate her for pushing her, even though he had done it plenty of times, but he had to pause when Antonia reached for the map. Slowly she moved her finger around before tapping one area. “H-here…we parked at the car park a couple miles away and hiked. I think we were around here…”

Sloane marked the spot with a red pen, circling the car park as well. “Okay. I’m going to let him ask the rest of the questions. Police procedure and all that.”

“But you’re going to kill that thing?” she asked, her voice shaking with anger and hope.

“You have my word that he’s not going to get away from me,” she said. “For you, your friends and your sister.”

“Thank you…” she sobbed, shaking putting a hand on Sloane’s hand. Sloane patted her hand gently, looking quite sympathetic.

Nick asked her the more routine questions as gently and quickly as he could before they headed back out and into his car again. He started back where they’d left her car. “You were better with her than I thought you’d be…”

She arched her eyebrow at him as she was looking over the map again. “You expected me to muscle her into telling me what I wanted?”

“A bit, yeah…More I’m surprised you didn’t skirt around the whole monster thing. I mean, I always figured we had to keep it tightly under wraps.”

“If possible, yeah. But then, she already saw what she saw and I needed to know where she saw it. No use trying to lead her down another path. She’ll probably go to therapy and eventually rationalize it as something else, but for now what’s the use in trying to tell her she’s wrong and making her more upset?”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it…” He thought back to how Hank handled finding out about wesen and wondered if maybe there had been a better way to handle it like that. “I’ve been kind of figuring this all out as I go and Monroe said it’s pretty traumatic for most humans to find out…”

She paused and looked at him curiously. “Kelly said Marie raised you…Did she really not prepare you for any of this before she got ill? No ground rules or advice? I had thought she would at least try.”

He shook his head slowly. "No. We moved around a lot, but I think she wanted me to have a normal life, at least for a while. Thinking maybe I wouldn’t become a Grimm." The girl didn't dismiss it like other sentiments he'd mention, but she looked a bit troubled and confused as she mulled that over.

“Well, I have a place to start at least,” she finally said, tapping the map.

"You mean we,” he said stubbornly.

She gave him a flat look. "You--"

"I'm still a Grimm. Two Grimms have to be better than one. And I'm a cop, so protecting people is important to me. I will do what I have to do to keep Portland safe. At least save the 'You're so stupid and inexperienced' talk till after you see what I can do first hand, okay? After all, you could be all talk."

She stared for a moment, bristling and looking about ready to sock him before taking a deep breath and just glaring at him. "Fine. But only because I'm sick of tracking this thing and want to get it over with. Also, I promised Kelly to check on you, so at least I’ll be able to see if you can actually defend yourself."

Nick just smiled, feeling it was somewhat of a win. "Okay. Do you think he's in the woods still at this point?"

She nodded, back to business. "But heading towards the mountains. If he got these campers he’s had a meal unfortunately. But that could also slow him down. They tend to take…left overs with them.”

“Ugh…” he grimaced, pulling up to where her car was still parked.

“I know. But again, it’ll slow him down. It’s possible he has someone alive too…”

“Seriously?”

“They’ve been known to hunt and keep future meals penned up. Like cattle. But we can’t count on that if he’s still on the move.” She looked at the map. “The trick will be tracking him down quickly. He’s been moving near constantly for the two weeks I’ve been hunting him down, picking off random people on the way for food but not enough to weigh him down. So he’s not going too fast to conserve his energy. But he can still get farther than us in the trees. But if he gave in and attacked a group last night, we might be lucky and he took a rest after a full meal. So that at least lets us make up some distance.” She climbed out and started for her car.

"Alright…I know a good tracker." He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"What are you doing?" she asked, opening her car to pull out a large chest.

"Calling Monroe for backup."

She glared, defenses rising full tilt and he backed up before she could grab his phone and probably crush it. "The Blutbad? Why?"

"He can track him and he knows the woods really well."

"I refuse to work with a Blutbad!" she snapped, looking ready for a fight. “I hate Blutbader!”

He glared back. "Can you track him by smell? Or do you want to waste time fumbling for footprints through miles of woods with no leads other than mountains, which by the way are in several directions given that this is the Willamette Valley."

She was silent a moment, her entire body tense as if she physically wanted to reject the idea. She was shaking with suppressed emotion that she was trying to keep a cap on it seemed.

"The sooner we find the Wolkenkratzer, the sooner you don't have to worry about me or my methods, no matter how much you disagree. But Monroe and Rosalee are big assets to me along with being friends. They've saved a lot of people. And like I said, they've been tutoring me and helping me at every turn. So I'm asking for help and either you come along, or I'll track down this giant myself and take care of him."

The woman's pride had her straightening her back and glaring further at the challenge. "Fine," she ground out. "But only to hunt the Wolkenkratzer. One false move and I’ll add them to my list. You too maybe."

“Then you’ll be on mine,” he said warningly. Sloane just turned her head away. “I need to go to my trailer. I want to look up some things.”

Wordlessly she opened her car again, grabbing an old style rolodex. Going through, she stopped on the Ws and then went to a large chest. Pulling out a book, she pressed it against his chest. “Use mine, it’s just as good I’d wager. Even with your little animal friends. And I’ll loan you a weapon.”

He glared at the crack about his friends but sat on the edge of the trunk door to start flipping through the book. Indeed it was nearly identical to most of the books in the trailer and he turned the pages till he came to one about the Wolkenkratzer. Thankfully there was a notebook page in with it translating the highlighted points from the German text. _Maybe I should get a rolodex…or better yet, use my computer…_ he thought as he hit the call button.

\-------------------

Juliette opened the door to the spice shop, balancing a tray of coffees in her hand. “Hello? Rosalee, Mon-whoa....”

“Hey,” Rosalee said, sighing as she straightened from trying to sweep up the mess of yellow powder on the ground. The shop was in better shape than it had been just a few hours earlier, but the mess of the spilled spices was still floating about. Rosalee had closed the shop and the two of them had taken a while to calm down and have lunch before really getting to cleaning. Several jars were broken and the spicy, earthy scents were thick in the air.

“I came to see if you needed any help still…And brought you some coffee for a pick me up. Nick said you had an irate customer.”

“Not exactly…well, sort of. She was fine until she saw me woge. She was another Grimm,” Monroe said, brushing the powder into a bin. “Had a mean knife on her.”

“Oh My God, are you alright?” Juliette asked quickly.

“Fine. A bit scratched up but Nick came in time and got her to back off.”

“Her?”

“Yeah, it was a woman Grimm. Female of the species are often more dangerous than the male,” he joked.

“Yeesh…what happened to her?” She asked, grabbing a rag from the counter and helping to dust one of the shelves off.

“Nick came in and got her to leave. But she said she was hunting a Wolkenkratzer, something really dangerous. So he’s gone off to help her.”

“So that’s what that call was about,” Juliette said thoughtfully. “He didn’t mention another Grimm.”

“He probably was in a rush,” Rosalee said, clapping her hands to get rid of some of the dusty yellow powder. “He went to go catch up with her, see if she needed help. You know Nick, no one is beyond hope.”

Juliette smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that about him... But she attacked you and Monroe?” she asked worriedly.

“Yes. Not all Grimms are like Nick. Most are behead first, ask questions later. We’re lucky Nick came by, but also that she gave up and left.”

“That’s good…”

 “Everything okay?” Rosalee asked.

“Yeah, just…It’s weird, sometimes just all this Grimm stuff hits me again and I’m like ‘Wow…this is my life now’.  It’s not a bad thing. It’s just really jarring now and then.”

Rosalee nodded with a sympathetic smile. “I can understand that.”

“Really? I mean…you grew up with this.”

“True, but growing up I didn’t expect to one day run my family’s spice shop. That was always more what was expected of my brother. I definitely didn’t expect to be friends with a Grimm. Or to be honest, dating a Blutbad.” She smiled at Monroe, who smiled back. “Sometimes that all hits me and kind of makes me wonder if I’m having a long, elaborate dream.”

Juliette smiled a bit and nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good way to put it...Is Nick safe with that woman though?”

“He’s probably fine. I mean, it has been a couple of hours…” Monroe said, trying not to look worried. He jumped when his phone rang and quickly grabbed it. “Ah, speak of the devil. Looks like he’s alive.” He answered the call and put it up to his ear. “Hey Nick. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Nick said. “We’ve got some shaky ground rules I think…it ends up her Wolkenkratzer and a new case of mine more than likely intersect. Girl found wandering along Germantown in the woods, says something attacked her and her friends while they were camping.”

“Oh geeze,” Monroe said. “It’s hunting? That’s not good…”

“I’m starting to think any kind of hunting isn’t good. Except us hunting this thing…which brings me to part of my call.”

Monroe gave Rosalee a wry look. “Let me guess. You need me to help track this monster?”

“Yeah. Just tracking, we’ll take care of the rest, but there’s a lot of woods to try and track him through so you’d really be an asset out here.”

“And the scary Grimm lady is okay with this?”

“She’s…resistant to the idea,” he admitted, and Monroe could almost imagine the dry look on the woman’s face. “But I’ve told her you and Rosalee are off limits. Again, shaky ground rules, but I’ll make sure she follows them.”

Monroe sighed a bit but nodded. “Okay. If this guy is picking off campers, I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Thanks Monroe, I can always count on you,” he said meaningfully and a little louder. Now he imagined the woman rolling her eyes. “I’ll text you where we are.”

“Alright. See you there.” He hanged up and looked apologetically at Rosalee. “Duty calls.”

“Uh huh. Duty had better not lead you into the path of the Wolkenkratzer,” she said, walking over to kiss him.

“Nick promises to protect me from any monsters. And that includes the Grimm lady.”

“Good.” She kissed him again as he grabbed his keys.

“Sorry to cut this short, Juliette.”

“It’s fine. I’ll take over helping Rosalee. Be safe. Oh, and I brought coffee for you guys. Yours has the M, soy latte.”

“Thanks!” he grabbed the cup, giving a toast to them as he headed out the door.

Rosalee sighed and Juliette grabbed a rag to start wiping down the counter. “I also never saw me being in love with a Blutbad and wringing my hands over him helping a Grimm…”

Juliette smiled, though a little sadly. “Wish I could relate…”

\------------------

Hank was going through files on their missing teens by protocol when his phone rang with Nick’s number. “Hey man. How’d questioning go?”

“Okay…Surprisingly so.” He glanced at Sloane, reading through the book again. He was in his car, not wanting her to listen in. “She at least knows how to act around people to not piss them off and get what she wants…”

“Eh, that can be an asset. Did we get some good info?”

“Yeah, she got a location of the camp, and a description of what happened. Definitely wesen.”

“Should I head out there?”

“No,” Nick said. “Again, I’d like you to, but I’m not sure it’s the best idea with this Grimm. I want to limit all the things she can get angry at me about…”

“Real ball-buster, huh?” Hank asked, smiling.

“A bit, yeah. But she knows what she’s doing. Or is at least confident enough to make be believe she does.”

“Well, no problem. I’ll keep running files up here, buy you some time. You got your laptop, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll send you want I got, then you’ll know who to look for.” He started setting up the email as he talked. “Sad thing, these guys are all 20 or younger…You think they’re…”

“Sloane things they’re likely dead, yeah,” he sighed.

“Sloane being the Grimm with all the high expectations of you? The Grimm expectations?”

“Yeah,” Nick said with a smile. “She’s…intense.”

“But she hasn’t tried to kill you yet.”

“Not out right. I called Monroe to come help us though, and that is causing a lot of friction before he even arrives. I think I’m setting myself up to play mediator a lot,” he groaned.

“Glad it’s not me.”

“Gee, thanks,” he said blandly.

“Hey, you said its best I stick this one out, I’m listening. I’m the guy in the chair now, getting information out to in the field. Like Q to your Bond.”

Nick chuckled. “Thanks. Sorry about kind of pushing you out though…”

“Hey, a day where I don’t gotta run through the woods hunting a man eating monster? Sounds like a good day to me.”

Nick laughed. “Yeah, I feel that…”

“You gonna be okay?” Hank asked, worried by the wistful tone.

“I think so…just…Seeing another Grimm like this, I guess it hits home things aren’t going to be “normal” ever again,” he said.

“Yeah…Well, never boring at least,” he said, trying to find the light side.

“Boring might be nice sometimes.”

“Then I know who to call next time my mom invites me to her puzzle nights, send you instead.”

Nick did laugh now and Hank smiled. “Thanks. I’ll let you know what comes up.”

“Sure. Be safe man, I don’t want another partner.”

“Same here. Bye.”

They hanged up and Hank sighed, honestly hoping he’d be okay.

\------------------

It was a little less than an hour after Nick had called him when Monroe showed up. Sloane was going through her weapons, pulling out a few to decide what to use. She glared at him, one hand tightening on the handle of her club, and he took a wide path around her to Nick. Nick was on a small notebook computer with the Portland PD logo stamped on it by his own car. “Sooo…still not a little ray of sunshine, huh?” he asked, nodding to the woman.

“Don’t start,” Nick pleaded.

“Hey, she started it.”

“And I’ll finish it if she tries again. Just relax.”

“Easy for you to say, she won’t kill you. Maybe just knock you out then drag you to her cave to father little Grimmlings…”

“He realizes I can hear him, right?” she called, holding up a sword as if inspecting it. “Blutbad hearing is better than humans, but Grimm hearing is damn good too. I know several ways to incapacitate various senses long enough for a killing blow.”

“Shutting up,” Monroe said, looking away.

Nick sighed kept scrolling on the computer. “Hank’s been doing some research for the case while we hunt, sent over vehicle records and profiles on the missing students.”

“Is he not joining us?” Monroe asked quietly, eyeing Sloane. She appeared to be focused on sharpening one of the blades.

“I’m not sure she’d be happy with him being in the know, so I convinced him to stay behind the scenes on this one,” Nick replied in a hushed whisper.

“Probably smart.”

Nick nodded and finished up, putting the computer back in his car. “Monroe, you’re the best tracker I know. I figured if anyone can find this thing fast it’s you.”

The Blutbad smiled at the vote of confidence and nodded. “No problem. These guys aren’t known for their cleanliness so I should be able to smell him real quick.”

“We got a place to start too; it’s a trail near a car park up this way. I’ll have to call it in after we get this thing for the investigation, but Renard is letting us take care of this first.”

“Who?” Sloane asked. Both of them jumped, not realizing she’d come up behind them with her bag of weapons. She was frighteningly silent moving around, like his mother could be, and Nick wondered if she trained for that.

“Uh, my captain. He’s…in the know about Grimm things.”

“Oh…?” she asked, looking slightly suspicious. She then shrugged. “Convenient, no having to make up a story for him then.”

“Yeah…” _He’s also a part-Royal Zauberbeast, but you probably don’t want to know that._

 “I’d drive us over, but I definitely don’t have room for two passengers. Unless the Blutbad wants to ride on the roof…” she said, smirking a little.

“Yeah, no. Thank you” Monroe said with a glare.

“I’d strap you down,” she said. “Like a deer. I have some rope-”

“I’ll drive there, and then we’ll be walking,” Nick said. “It’s not too far away.”

Sloane pouted at her fun being cut short but nodded and tossed the bag in the backseat, climbing in next to it.

“Don’t want shotgun?” Monroe asked.

“Don’t want you behind me,” she clarified. “I’d rather keep you in my line of sight.”

“Okay, if that makes you more comfortable…” he said, giving Nick a look that spoke need for infinite patience. They drove in silence half an hour up the road to the carpark there. There were a few cars already parked and Nick gave them a cursory look over. “These look like the cars that belonged to the college kids according to the records Hank pulled…”

“Guess that means we’re on the right track…I’ll find their camp first I guess?” Monroe asked.

“Yeah, we’ll definitely be able to track him from there-Sloane, hold up!”

“You two just hurry up, I’m not standing around talking about this!” she called back, already heading down the trail.

“So, great day for a nice little hike,” Monroe smiled, walking next to him as they started off in the direction on the map. “Anyone want to sing a song maybe?” he asked hopefully, trying to lighten the mood.

“Sing one note and I’ll cut your tongue out.”

“You will not,” Nick said.

“I don’t remember electing you leader of this hunting trip,” she snapped back.

“Kids, kids, calm down,” Monroe joked. “I will turn this trip around.”

The joke was lost as they kept walking through the woods.

It was an over an hour after that when Sloane was looking impatient. The afternoon was going by and none of them wanted to hunt by night.

“I promise you, Monroe knows what he’s doing,” Nick sighed.

Sloane snorted. “I’m not convinced he isn’t leading us into a trap.”

“He’s not. He’s helped me with a lot of cases, including against other Blutbader.”

“Did you give him a nice steak afterwards?”

 “Hey, I am vegan,” Monroe snapped. “No meat, thank you.”

“You want a gold star?” she sneered.

Monroe glared and she glared back. He paused suddenly though and held up a hand to stop them all, sniffing deeply in the air. “Shit…”

“What?” Nick asked, tensing.

“I smell something…”

“It’s not another raccoon, is it?” Sloane asked dryly.

“No…human. Nylon, leather, jeans…and blood. Lots of it. That way,” he pointed.

Her eyes widened. “It must be the campsite,” Sloane agreed, going ahead of him. Her arm reached under and grasped her large hunting knife, pulling it out to have it ready.

“Sloane, wait,” Nick hissed, following and grabbing her arm. She spun out of the grip before he could do more than slow her down.

“Someone might still be alive, we have to get to them,” she called back urgently. Nick was surprised at the earnestness. He hadn’t been sure she would care about survivors given her eagerness to hunt and kill wesen. He followed her quickly through the trees, Monroe hanging further back to avoid the blood breaking his control.

Finally they could smell it too—the blood. Not the minute smells Monroe could smell, but the stench was almost overpowering the closer they got. Nick swallowed a bit of bile but Sloane pressed on. She paused near a tree with her blade at the ready, but after a moment sighed and dropped the stance. “Damn…” she muttered, her body looking defeated and disappointed. Nick came forward and grimaced, seeing the many bodies there. All were mangled and some looked as though they’d been eaten. The scene looked old, maybe a day or a little more from the look of the blood.

“God…the Wolkenkratzer did all this?” he breathed.

“Definitely.” She pointed up and Nick followed the finger, grunting in disgust and sympathy to see one body had been tossed up in the trees pretty high. He wasn’t sure how they would explain that. She stepped forward carefully, not touching anything and stepping where her footprints wouldn’t be noticed. She looked at every victim she could find, but most all were missing parts and were cold and stiff. The blood was dry enough that it was only slightly tacky or else just stains on what it had splattered across. Nick saw her expression range from sad to angry to pained as she walked around and he felt for her. He didn’t like people being the killed in his work, police or Grimm, either. Being a large part of his work he learned to deal with it, but it was always sad. It was something they could agree on. “No one’s alive…he took bites out of most of them, some limbs too, but left them since he doesn’t know where to set up a new bone pit. A lot of closed caskets are going to be needed…” She rubbed over her face before pounding the back of her fist against a tree in frustration. “Dammit…I should’ve kept looking last night…”

He frowned and walked over as well, careful where he stepped. “Hey, this isn’t your fault.” She looked up at him, eyes cold but more like she was trying to keep them from emoting too much of what she felt. It was a look he’d seen on plenty of cops and detectives, and he’s sure he’s had it before too. “This isn’t because of you. There’s nothing you could’ve done last night.”

Her face hardened a bit and she turned away. “I didn’t take him down the first time…I let him get the upper hand, fell down an incline, and he got away. He shouldn’t have gotten this far.”

Nick sighed but knew they didn’t have time to really hash this out. “I should really go ahead and call this in…” he said.

“Getting a bunch of police out here where there’s a giant monster? Do you hate your coworkers that much?” she asked blandly, turning a skeptical look to him. Apparently it was back to business.

Nick rolled his eyes but sighed. “Point taken, but I at least need to make a note of where these people are. They deserve a proper burial and for their family to know, like you promised Antonia.”

She was quiet a moment before nodding slowly. “You’re right in that case. You need the map?”

“My phone has GPS. I’ll make a note of where we are.”

“Good, then we can move on. The sooner we get this thing, the more people we save from this same fate.” She looked around again. “…The girl, Antonia…she said there were seven of them, camping here, right?”

“Yes…I’ve got a list of names too.”

“He took on seven people at once?!” Monroe called from near the tree line.

“Apparently. But there’s only five sets of remains here. Including her…someone isn’t here. He actually might’ve taken one of them as a snack for later…Blutbad! Can you find a scent to follow?”

“Working on it,” he said, going in a wide berth of the massacre. “I got a good whiff of something pretty rank heading this way.”

Sloane looked up, tracing the sun’s angle with the tip of her blade before nodding. “That’s towards the mountains alright. It’s possible whoever he’s taken is still alive.”

“Really?” Nick asked.

“They prefer a fresh meal when possible,” she grimaced. “If they are alive, we need to hurry.” Nick nodded in agreement, finishing with his phone. Sloan suddenly looked surprised and rushed over to a tree. “It’s hurt!”

“How can you tell?” Nick asked. She pointed to the tree, showing a large bloody hand print hidden among the bark, smeared as if someone had used it for support before pushing off of it. The print was large, the palm as big as Nick’s head.

“He’s steps are uneven and he’s using trees for support.” She looked back at the campers and then pointed at a flare gun one of them was clutching. Kneeling down, she gently lifted it with the tip of her knife and looked it over. “Fired recently. He got him I think. They fought with what they could…” She looked at them sadly once more before turning away. Glancing at Nick she hesitated before saying, “You’ll make sure they get found?”

He nodded solemnly. She sighed but then shrugged her long backpack over her shoulder off, opening it up. She took out a small crossbow not unlike the one Nick sometimes used and fitted it to her belt along with a small pouch that held arrows. A sword was strapped to her belt as well, an old saber style one. She also pulled out a club and offered it to Nick. “You don’t seem the melee type to me, but take that. If that gun of yours runs out of ammo before he goes down you might need this.”

“I know how to use the club. And I’m a good shot,” he defended, but took the club.

“That remains to be seen, but you don’t have to reload a club or a blade.”

“Do I get anything?” Monroe asked, glancing in.

She zipped the bag up with a glare. “Like I would arm you.”

“Hey-”

She pulled a vial out of the bag’s side pocket and then the juniper berries from her jacket. Opening it, she pushed one berry into the vial and shook it vigorously.

“What’s that?”

“Poison. Wolkenkratzer are strong and don’t feel much pain, but this will weaken him a bit of we can get it in to him and make his nerves more sensitive.”

“Like a siegbarste?” Nick asked.

“Almost exactly.” She started coating some of the arrows in the small quiver. “I’ve heard they’re closely related, but this isn’t fatal to a Wolkenkratzer. It doesn’t last long either so we’ll only have a short window to kill it any time we hit him with it.”

“Oh good,” Monroe said. “Nothing like a high stakes game of beat the clock.”

“Would you prefer to fight him full strength the whole time?”

“Point taken…”

Pulling the pack back on she pointed. “He’s wounded and possibly has a hostage, so he’ll be moving extra slow. Try to find him now and we might actually have a chance at saving whoever he took. They don’t kill their snacks outright, they enjoy them fresh…”

The Blutbad nodded and sniffed the air before quickly heading back out into the woods.

\-------------------------------

Its late afternoon when Monroe freezes, leading them for a couple of hours through the woods. “I…I think I got him. He’s close.”

“How close?”

“Close enough I’m glad we’re down wind because otherwise, we’d be in a lot more trouble. Maybe a few yards ahead.”

Sloane shrugged off the backpack on her back and set it against the tree before cocking an arrow into the cross bow. “I’ll hit him first. Then we can rush him.”

Nick nodded, fine with that plan, and followed as she started crouching low among the trees. When they got closer, Nick had to suck in a breath when he saw their target.

The Wolkenkratzer-because that’s what it had to be- looks nearly seven feet tall. And that was while he was still human looking. He had a messy beard, big eyes and a large nose, and jagged sharp teeth. He could see those teeth as he bit into the flesh of what appeared to be a human arm. Nick hopes morbidly that the limb is from one of the poor souls at the campsite and not a new victim. Draped around him were clothes covered in blood and ripped and torn, salvaged maybe from past victims. He could make out one large burn mark along his side, covered in dried blood. And there next to him was a girl in hiking gear, battered and bruised, one ankle badly twisted to hobble her and unconscious at his feet but breathing.

Monroe’s face morphed a second, looking scared, before going back. Sloane looked even more on edge by the display and once again tempted to perhaps attack him. Nick just shot her a look. “And you’re sure he can’t be reasoned with?”

 “He ate a campsite and took a girl he planned to eat later for leftovers,” she bit out. “Plus, he’s feral remember? Can’t talk or comprehend human speech. He just knows to search for territory and food and maybe mate if the urge strikes him. He can’t be reasoned with, but be my guest if you want to try.” She looked pointedly at Nick. He didn’t rise to the challenge, just readjusted his grip on the club and nodded. “Okay. One of you needs to get the girl out of there too. She’ll get trampled or worse in the fight.”

“I can do that,” Monroe said. Sloane eyed him, obviously not sure about that. “I’m not going to hurt her! She’s been through enough.”

She hesitated but sighed. “We don’t have much choice. You get the girl. Nick, you’re with me.”

“Right,” he nodded. Sloane breathed in and lifted the cross bow. She took aim, breathing out slowly with her finger on the trigger. When she pulled, the bolt flew forward with a whistle and struck the Wolkenkratzer square in the same side the burn mark was. A roar that shook Nick’s fillings erupted from him as he stood and woged. Both Nick and Monroe gaped as he grew at least two more feet, his arms and legs lengthening. His face got larger and he began looking around wildly for who fired the arrow. Moments later he was staggering, looking surprised. Sloane grabbed the sword at her side and rushed forward without a glance to the other two.

The Wolkenkratzer was not quite down for the count though. Seeing her coming, he roared again and stood, swiping her away. Sloane was pushed back but rolled back to her feet in one fluid motion. Nick rushed forward now, gun in hand, and shot at his arm as he reached for her. The bullets went through his arms and he backed away with a shout. The shots were more like fly bites to him though as he shook his hand and glared at him. Swinging back, he made a move to swipe Nick away as well. A hunting knife was suddenly in the back of his hand though and he howled in pain. He turned back towards Sloane crouched on the ground, vial of poison in hand after dousing her knife, and growled low.

“Yeah, that’s right, it’s me again big guy,” she said with a sneer. “What are you going to do? Run again? Come get me.”

Even if he didn’t understand the words as Sloane claimed he apparently understood that tone. Roaring, he moved towards her again and Sloane raised the sword to be at the ready. Nick took the opportunity to swing the club as hard as he can into the giant’s side with the wound. The impact sent tremors through his own body, and the giant yelled, turning back to him. He backhanded Nick, sending him flying back but thankfully not into any trees.

“Nick!” Monroe yelled. He had the girl’s unconscious body in his arms, ready to get her away before he was distracted by his friend getting slapped like a bug.

“You idiot,” Sloane called. “I didn’t have his full attention and the poison will start wearing off soon!” She loaded the cross bow again quickly and tried to fire at the creature again, only to have him pick up a rather large rock to block it. He then threw the rock at them, making them scatter.

Monroe managed to jump and pull the girl with him out of the way, but she groaned and started waking up as he kept pulling. Looking around she started screaming, grabbing on to him. He winced at the sound and kept trying to pull her away as the Wolkenkratzer turned his focus on them and moved to go and get his snack back.

Sloane was between them in seconds. “Keep going, I’ll hold him!” She yelled and raised the sword. “C’mon! It’s you and me, ugly!” The Wolkenkratzer growled reached out and grabbed her, lifting her up with his mouth open to take a bite.

“Sloane!” Nick yelled in horror. Sloane grunted, freeing one arm quickly and plunged another arrow she had in her hand right into the monster’s eye. He howled and let her go, Sloane dropping to the ground with a shout. She pushed a hand to her arm which had a cut in it now, but shrugged it off. The Wolkenkratzer was flailing about in pain, blood pouring down his face, his big feet coming within inches of stamping the Grimm woman to death. Sloane didn’t move though, instead loading the bow again and firing another shot into the creature’s sternum. Another howl, but now he was focused. He backed away enough Sloane could get to her feet, but also so he could grab a tree about as thick as both of Nick’s forearms together, pulling it out roots and all. This gave him an even greater reach and he moved to swipe at Sloane. She dodged the first one, and Nick took the opportunity to try and shoot again, but that only succeeded and getting Sloane’s attention.

“Be patient!” With her attention split though, she missed a crucial second she needed to react as the tree came swinging towards her again. “Sloane!” Nick yelled, because he wouldn’t get there in time. Luckily, Monroe was closer. Tackling her to the ground as well as a linebacker could, they both went sprawling safely away from the dirt and leaves as the tree hit the ground where she was hard enough to splinter.

Sloane sat up enough to give him a shocked expression. “You just…saved me?”

“Yeah. You owe me!” he said. Sloane looked as though she was having a short meltdown for a moment at the thought of a wesen rescuing her.

“Wait, the girl-” Sloane started, looking for a reason to yell at him.

“She’s fine, several trees down and trying to calm herself. She can’t walk though,” he said quickly, pulling her to her feet. “We got problems of our own!”

The Wolkenkratzer pulled the tree back, barely still together as it swung on strings of bark and wood, gearing up for another attempt at both of them. Before he could, Nick aimed with his gun again, getting him right in the knee. The creature buckled down on one knee, looking back at him angrily.

Sloane, brought back to herself by the sound of gunfire, spotted her sword on the ground where it had been flung. Standing, she rushed forward and picked the weapon up on the go, continuing to the Wolkenkratzer’s turned back. Digging her feet into the muscular back of the wesen like an incline at an obstacle course, she raised the blade high above her head in a stabbing hold. The creature felt her and moved to try and buck her off, but she was too fast for him. Bring the sword down with both hands, she plunged the blade through the back of his neck and through to the other side, right through his brainstem and into his mouth. The creature jolting as if surprised, and then there was a choking, gurgling sound from his throat. Sloane growled and wrenched the blade hard as she swung over the creature’s shoulder to land back on the ground, pulling the sword with her and effectively wrenching his jaw and half his neck open. He began to fall forward, his eyes rolling back, and she turned as he did and brought the blade through to finish severing it. He changed as his body finally hit the ground, the head rolling way. Sloane huffed as she took out a rag from her pocket to wipe off the blood from her sword, despite it covering most of her right arm, looking satisfied over the body.

“Damn…” Monroe said. “She’s good…”

“Yeah…” Nick said, having to admit he’d never seen anything quite like that.

“You’re not so bad either,” Sloane says suddenly. She turned her head to eye to Nick. “Green, but that was a nice move with shooting his kneecap off. Made that last bit much easier.”

Nick blinked but then actually finds himself smiling with a little laugh. He figures that’s as good a compliment as he’s going to get.

“Um, so…what are we going to do with him?” Monroe asks.

“We leave him for the animals to scavenge and get the hell out of dodge,” Sloane said immediately. “Anyone sees this they’ll probably think it’s because of whatever attacked the campers.” She walked over to grab her knife where it fell to the ground, also wiping it off, and hissed softly at the cut still on her arm flexed. It was still bleeding and she frowned at it like it was more of an insult than an injury.

“You’re hurt,” Nick says, going over to look at it.

“It’s nothing. I can mix some stuff for it later,” she says absently. “Won’t even need stitches.”

Nick doesn’t want to ask what she do if it did, instead gently putting a hand on her shoulder. The woman tensed, looking about ready to leap out of his touch and eyeing him. “Come with us, we have someone that can patch you up better.” She arched her eyebrows at him dubiously and he smiles. “One less thing you have to worry about.”

She hesitated before sighing and shaking her head. “Fine. But make the call about the campers. Oh, and the girl…Blutbad! Make yourself useful, grab her and start figuring the way back to the car.”

“Hey, I made myself pretty damn useful when I saved you! You could learn my name.”

Sloane had a pinched look on her face, not wanting to admit that perhaps, before grabbing her jacket and backpack back up. “I had it covered.”

“Oh you so did not!” Monroe argued. “Also, she passed out again. I’m not sure how we’re going to get her out of here…”

Nick sighed, already pulling out his phone while those two distracted each other.

Renard picked up the phone when he saw whose number it was. “You’re alive then?”

“Afraid so,” he said.

“And the Wolkenkratzer?”

“Dead. Sloane made sure of that.”

“I take it that’s this new Grimm?”

“Yeah. She’s…she can fight,” he says, not sure how else to describe her. Sloane frowned at him, rather put out by the simple explanation of what she’d just done.

“Most Grimms can,” Renard reminded him.

“Yeah. We found the campsite though…”

Renard sighed. “No survivors I take it?”

“Actually, one. He took a girl with her. She’s injured and passed out, but alive,” he said. It wasn’t the best outcome, but it was better than everyone being dead.

Renard perked up. “Really? Hmm…put her near the camp. I’ll have EMS come with you to the campsite and we’ll “find” her.”

“She saw us fighting the Wolkenkratzer…” Nick pointed out.

“She’s seen a lot of things. In time she’ll learn how to process it. But given what’s happened, it might be best she and Miss Swindon forget what they saw. I know someone that can help with that, and they happen to work at the hospital. Likely they’ll believe they were the victims of some sort of animal attack soon enough.”

Nick blinked and then walked off, hissing into the phone. “We couldn’t have done that with Hank?!”

“Detective Griffin’s encounters were different. This isn’t something that can just be done with a snap of the fingers, and it also isn’t easy. Truthfully, the fact both of them suffered such huge traumas makes it easier for this spell to work because it will confuse them more until they take the simplest answer. Detectives like Hank are too analytical and smart, it likely would’ve driven him even madder because he saw and had time to truly process what he saw. There’s a time limit as well on how fresh the memories have to be, and the girls are just coming up on the deadline so we’ll have it ready. Hank didn’t let us know what he was thinking till the last moment. Besides, can you honestly say you dislike being able to openly talk about this with your partner about everything now?”

Nick sighed, rubbing over his eyes. “No…you’re right, it is good he knows now…”

“Glad you agree,” Renard said. “Text the coordinates to me and I’ll write that you and Hank were able to question her and figure it out. Hopefully we can figure out how to treat this to not freak the whole city out as well…”

“Better say it was a whole squad of mountain lions…Good luck with that,” Nick said honestly and maybe a little morbidly amused.

“Thanks,” Renard replied blandly. “Oh, and Nick? What about your new friend?”

Nick paused, looking at Sloane as she and Monroe walked ahead of him. Her hand was still on her sword and she looked tempted to cut into the Blutbad in front of her. “I wouldn’t call her a friend. But she should be leaving soon I guess.”

“Good. We don’t need more than one Grimm here, and not one that’s more…traditional.”

“I agree with you there,” he said. “I’ll see you later, sir.”

“Right. Good job.” He clicked the phone shut and sighed. He looked at a list of names also on his desk, a crude drawing of a scythe next to them that would just make others perhaps scratch their head but helped to keep Renard focused on what he was thinking about. Tapping the page slightly, he finally shook his head and putting it away.

\-----------------------------

"A Blutbad saved me and I'm being treated for injuries by a Fuchsbau..." Sloane muttered. She was sitting on a stool in the back of the spice shop, her arm out to Rosalee as she cleaned and bandaged the cut. It was deep, but not deep enough she needed stitches, just as she’d predicted. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. If my mentor found out, we would both be dead. I could’ve done this just as easily on my own as this fox.” Rosalee gave her a pinched look and tugged a little harder on the bandage, making the other girl grunt and glare at her.

"You're welcome," Monroe snapped. "I still saved you even after you tried to take my damn head off..."

She looked ready to lay into him again but Nick, sitting next to him near her, gave her a pointed look. She was silent a moment before looking away from all of them. "You're reflexes were impressive and you did well tracking the Wolkenkratzer. Who’s a good boy?" she sneered as if praising a dog.

Monroe glared, itching to take a swipe at her, but just huffed and sat back more when Nick put an arm on his shoulder. Nick sighed a little but looked at his phone when it beeped with a message. He smiled a little. “Looks like Antonia is starting to do better. And amazingly, the girl we rescued was her sister Marcia Swindon! They’re both going to recover…though apparently Marcia’s foot is pretty badly mangled. A lot of surgery is in her future.”

Sloane smiled a little. “Well…some good news that they’re both alive at least. That still leaves five people dead though…Glad I don’t have to deal with their families like you.”

“Yeah…” He sighed, knowing that was going to be rough. “I have to admit, it was…interesting working with another Grimm.”

“It was interesting working with your sort of bleeding heart Grimm as well,” she said with a slight scoff. “Wait, no…infuriating, that’s the word.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

"Not quite, I'm afraid," the blonde sighed.

Rosalee looked up at the resigned sigh, finishing tying the bandage. "What do you mean? You finished your hunt."

Sloane pointed at Nick with a hard look to her eye. "This idiot will get himself killed soon enough if left as he is."

Nick bristled a bit, glaring. "Excuse me?! I think I did pretty well today all things considered."

She didn't appear moved by his defenses, shrugging her jacket back on. "'Pretty well' will only get you so far. Shooting the Wolkenkratzer in leg might have slowed it down and provided me the opportunity to deliver the killing blow, but if you were alone you wouldn't last long. As a relation to the Siegbarste, they feel little pain, even with the poison in their system to weaken them. It was only because you hit his kneecap he was brought down for those few moments. He still would've recovered quickly and likely deliver another blow. You need to learn more hand to hand combat and strategy skills rather than relying on a gun and luck. You also need to learn actual Grimm skills that you've yet to tap into.”

“I’m pretty good with a crossbow and other weapons Aunt Marie left me,” he said defensively.

“Again, ‘pretty good’ is not good enough,” she snapped.

Nick glared before looking curious. "You said ‘Other skills’? What other skills?" he asked.

"Did you think seeing wesen was our only ability?" she asked snidely. "That would hardly be an advantage in a fight once you’ve identified the enemy. There are other abilities available to us."

“Like heightened senses?” She looked at him. “I’ve had experience with that. A couple of times actually, and lately they…they’ve been getting stronger.”

She nodded slowly. “Heightened senses are certainly a decent start, but it is nowhere close to the end of your potential.”

"I knew it!" Monroe said. "I knew Grimms must've had something besides the whole sight thing!"

Sloane ignored him. "It's possible you have latent abilities as well, though I don't know what strengths your family might have or if one of your parents was a normal human. That could also effect what you can do. But whatever it is, you will need someone with more experience around."

"I see..." Nick muttered. "And you're volunteering?"

“Your mother did ask me to help you,” she smiled wryly. She glanced at the two wesen again. “And you certainly need it.” They both glared back at her.

“So what makes you qualified to teach me?” he asked blandly.

She gave him a steady, hard look that actually sent a shiver up Nick's spine. "I came into my inheritance when I was nine. I have since been trained in fighting and honing my skills all over the world. That would be roughly seventeen to eighteen years. Compared to you, I'm a grand master." Everyone's eyes widened.

"Nine?" Nick asked. Monroe and Rosalee looked shocked as well, glancing at each other, then the female Grimm again.  "I...you've been doing this since you were nine?"

She just nodded, no shame or trepidation in her face. “Girls usually get the ability sooner than boys for some reason. My time…came rather suddenly.”

Nick was still staring at her. Nine was so young, she hadn't even been a teenager. He suddenly felt sympathy for her and understanding. Growing up learning to kill wesen with no childhood or even teenage years to speak of? How could she not be distrustful and ready for violence? Nick wondered if he would be the same way if his Aunt had raised him knowing what would come...

Sloane leaned back in the chair, looking tired. "To my knowledge, there are very few Grimms in the US. Perhaps about two dozen or so that I’ve met face to face. That included your Aunt, so you've taken her place now. Of these, three are still in training and five are in unknown condition. Likely meaning dead. You and I are the only ones I know of on the east coast.” She frowned as a troubled thought came to her. "There is something strange happening as well...an unrest we can't explain." She looked at him. "We are an endangered species, so to speak. I may not agree with the company you keep or your methods, but apparently you do get things done. I can’t begrudge you that. As it stands though, you’re still greener than grass. I'm offering my experience in all areas of Grimm Lore to keep you from getting killed. We need as many Grimms as we can get, even if they are bleeding hearts. And I don’t want to hear through the grapevine we’ve lost one because he somehow never got any training.”

Nick sat back to think for a few moments before sighing, rubbing over his hair. "When you put it like that, it's hard to say no..."

Sloane actually smiled a bit, though it was hard to really see. "Good. When can we begin?"

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the start of something I've been planning long before the show ended. While I LOVE Grimm, I don't agree with some of the directions it went. And I was never satisfied with Juliette or Adalind as Nick's LI, for reasons I might discuss as we go. So, as with everything, I ended up making a an original character. I wanted to try to make a woman with the "asshole with the heart of gold" trope, and I love Sloane a lot, so I'm excited to start putting this up and letting her loose. She's going to evolve the most over all this.
> 
> HOw this will work: I'm making some original chapters like this, with new storylines, charactes, and wesen as often as possible. It's going to be diverse too. And I'm also doing mostly quick run downs on given story lines and how they'd be different with Sloane there. So for example, next chapter will be Volcanlis, Endangered, and Kiss of the Muse all summed up, but focusing on Sloane and how she'd have changed things. I'm debating whether to do this in separate chapters, considering most I have are 20,000 words more or less, or if I should do them all together. Leaning towards the former so as not to overwhelm a single fic, and they'll be in a series on here. Thoughts?
> 
> Few notes on this chapter-The quote and a lot of the inspiration is from the Grimm tale "The Valiant Tailor". It's all about pride and hubris, so it suits Sloane quite a bit. The Wolkenkratzer is from my desire to make more of a fairy tale giant character because a Siegbarste seems more like an Ogre. Plus a wesen that sudden grows like that seemed creepy. The name is from google translate I'm afraid, German for what should bye "Cloud/skyscraper". If this sounds awful, let me know. I took French and Japanese I'm afraid. But I do know that he plural of Blutbad should be Blutbader, not Blutbaden, from fan comments so I ran with that and fixed it.
> 
> This all takes place between One Angry Fuchsbau and Volcanalis. Volcanalis and other episodes will be next.
> 
> If you have questions or suggestions, please let me know, and every comment makes me happy! Kudos are appreciated too of course, but I love to know what you all think.


End file.
